Shoppers snapping up luxury looks while sitting on the sofa each evening have helped online fashion site Net-a-Porter match the sales growth of its stablemates like Cartier and Montblanc at designer brands giant Richemont.

A London entrepreneur who was forced to sack staff at her website-making business in a bid to save money today sold it for up to £23 million.

Despite a slowdown in China and turmoil in Europe, the insatiable demand for monogrammed Louis Vuitton luggage and Marc Jacobs handbags is showing no signs of abating.

The Louis Vuitton Express – or more precisely a turn-of-the-20th-century steam train – pulled into Paris yesterday, bathed in ultraviolet light and filled with model passengers sporting creative director Marc Jacobs' new designs.

Blusher is one of the most useful make-up bag items, yet it's also the one we're most likely to misuse. Put to its proper purpose – the addition of a little healthy colour and added dimension – it does its job admirably. It's when we start employing it to create the illusion of cheekbones, manically sculpting in light and shade, that things go awry. This kind of contouring is best left to the professional make-up artist; rendered by an inexpert hand it looks as subtle as a child's painting-by-numbers kit.

Why is the "wolf in cashmere" back in the news?

British success story Mulberry today unveiled a Frenchman as its new chief executive.

From blushing brides to dramatic falls from grace, Susannah Frankel charts the highs and lows of the international style set in 2011

Inside Track

Raf Simons would bring a more purist aesthetic to the grand French fashion house

Hermes raised forecasts for revenues this year amid growing demand for its scarves, accessories and leather bags, in a reminder of the luxury goods company's attraction for rival LVMH, whose advances Hermes is trying to fend off.

Viviane Reding the EU's gender equality commissioner, warned last week that Europe will suffer if it does not promote more women to top positions because of a shortage of talent across an ageing continent.

Philo single-handedly turned around the fortunes of a Paris fashion house. Then she quit it all to start a family. Now, heading up another grand French brand, she's back in the game – and determined to play it her way

LVMH, the world's biggest luxury goods group, posted sparkling first-quarter sales figures for all of its businesses. The maker of Moët et Chandon champagne and Louis Vuitton handbags saw its sales grow by 17 per cent to €5.25bn (£4.6bn) over the three months, and reported "strong momentum" in the US, Europe and Asia. Revenues for watches and jewellery surged by 28 per cent.